Combinatorial process system

ABSTRACT

A combinatorial processing chamber is provided. The combinatorial processing chamber is configured to isolate a radial portion of a rotatable substrate support, which in turn is configured to support a substrate. The chamber includes a plurality of clusters process heads in one embodiment. An insert having a base plate disposed between the substrate support and the process heads defines a confinement region for a deposition process in one embodiment. The base plate has an opening to enable access of the deposition material to the substrate. Through rotation of the substrate and movement of the opening, multiple regions of the substrate are accessible for performing combinatorial processing on a single substrate.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/027,980 entitled “Combinatorial Process System” filed onFeb. 7, 2008 which claims priority under the provisions of 35 U.S.C.§119 based upon U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/969,955 filed Sep.5, 2007, which is incorporated by reference in its entirely for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Deposition processes are commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing todeposit a layer of material onto a substrate. Processing is also used toremove layers, defining features (e.g., etch), preparing layers (e.g.,cleans), doping or other processes that do not require the formation ofa layer on the substrate. Processes and process shall be used throughoutthe application to refer to these and other possible known processesused for semiconductor manufacturing and any references to a specificprocess should be read in the context of these other possible processes.In addition, similar processing techniques apply to the manufacture ofintegrated circuits (IC) semiconductor devices, flat panel displays,optoelectronics devices, data storage devices, magneto electronicdevices, magneto optic devices, packaged devices, and the like. Asfeature sizes continue to shrink, improvements, whether in materials,unit processes, or process sequences, are continually being sought forthe deposition processes. However, semiconductor companies conduct R&Don full wafer processing through the use of split lots, as thedeposition systems are designed to support this processing scheme. Thisapproach has resulted in ever escalating R&D costs and the inability toconduct extensive experimentation in a timely and cost effective manner.

While gradient processing has attempted to provide additionalinformation, the gradient processing suffers from a number ofshortcomings. Gradient processing relies on defined non-uniformity whichis not indicative of a conventional processing operation and thereforecannot mimic the conventional processing. Under gradient processingdifferent amounts of material (or dopant) is deposited across the entiresubstrate or a portion of the substrate. This approach is also used fora deposition system having a carousel of targets which may or may not beused for co-sputtering purposes. In each of these systems, theuniformity of the region being deposited, as well as cross contaminationissues when performing more than one deposition process render thesetechniques relatively ineffective for combinatorial processing.

Thus, an improved technique for accommodating the evaluation of multipledifferent process variations on a single substrate is provided to moreefficiently evaluate the viability of different materials, unitprocesses, or process sequences.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be readily understood by the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, andlike reference numerals designate like structural elements.

FIG. 1A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a processingchamber configured to combinatorially process a substrate disposedtherein in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1B is a simplified schematic diagram of exemplary differentpositions of the process kit shield in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an alternativeview of a combinatorial processing chamber in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating various componentsof the process chamber of FIG. 2 in more detail in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a pattern achievedthrough the ability to rotate both the process heads and the substratein accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a cross sectionalview of the process kit shield with the arm cover plate in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an alternativeprocessing chamber in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate further details of the linear mask embodimentmentioned with regard to FIG. 6 in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B further illustrate the utilization of the linear maskand cover plate to expose and isolate an aperture for processing asubstrate in a combinatorial fashion in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 9 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the linear maskand corresponding connection to movement rods in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a crosssectional view of process kit shield and the linear mask in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10B is an alternative structural configuration for the base of theprocess kit shield of FIG. 10A.

FIG. 10C is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a top view of aprocessing chamber configured to combinatorially process a substratedisposed therein in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10D is a simplified schematic of a cross sectional view of the baseplate assembly for combinatorial processing in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a simplified schematic diagram showing a cross-sectional viewof a datum shield in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a patterndisposed over a substrate in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 13 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an aperturehaving an alternative configuration in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 14 a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an integrated highproductivity combinatorial (HPC) system in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart diagram illustrating the method operations forcombinatorially processing a substrate in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments described herein provide a method and system for aprocess chamber configured to combinatorially process a substrate. Itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art, that the present inventionmay be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In otherinstances, well known process operations have not been described indetail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

The embodiments described below provide details for a multi-regionprocessing system and associated processing heads that enable processinga substrate in a combinatorial fashion. Thus, different regions of thesubstrate may have different properties, which may be due to variationsof the materials, unit processes (e.g., processing conditions orparameters) and process sequences, etc. Within each region theconditions are preferably substantially uniform so as to mimicconventional full wafer processing within each region, however, validresults can be obtained for certain experiments without thisrequirement. In one embodiment, the different regions are isolated sothat there is no inter-diffusion between the different regions.

In addition, the combinatorial processing of the substrate may becombined with conventional processing techniques where substantially theentire substrate is uniformly processed (e.g., subjected to the samematerials, unit processes and process sequences). Thus, the embodimentsdescribed herein can pull a substrate from a manufacturing process flow,perform combinatorial deposition processing and return the substrate tothe manufacturing process flow for further processing. Alternatively,the substrate can be processed in an integrated tool that allows bothcombinatorial and conventional processing in various chambers attachedaround a central chamber. Consequently, in one substrate, informationconcerning the varied processes and the interaction of the variedprocesses with conventional processes can be evaluated. Accordingly, amultitude of data is available from a single substrate for a desiredprocess.

The processing chamber described herein may be optimized for half of thesubstrate as a radial portion is defined through the insert in oneembodiment. Thus, uniformity of the deposited layer is improved throughthis confinement as the aspect ratio is essentially half of that forprocessing a full substrate under conventional conditions, where theentire substrate surface must be considered. Furthermore, the impact onthe uniformity of the distance from the targets to the substrate, whichis relatively large to begin with, is accentuated by the confinement ofthe processing region. However, the chamber may cover a larger orsmaller portion of the substrate and still operate in accordance withthe inventions described herein. For example, the chamber size may bedictated by the number of heads. Or, in the embodiment where the processkit shield rotates about an off-axis, the chamber will need to be largeenough to encompass the movement path about the kit shield. However, thereduced size of the reaction region, defined by the process kit shieldin the preferred embodiments can have many benefits for construction anduse of the tool, however, the process kit shield is not required toimplement the invention.

As further discussed below, a substrate holder rotates a substrate inconjunction with a base plate having an opening to provide regionalaccess to the surface of a substrate for combinatorial processing withinthe chamber. In one embodiment, the base plate may be rotated about anaxis different from the axis of the substrate support so that the entiresubstrate can be accessed. In another embodiment, a linear mask may beutilized to define the location and shape of a processing region overthe substrate. In addition, other combinations and variations arepossible based on the teachings of the invention set forth herein. Itshould be appreciated that the shape of the regions that are processedmay include isolated circles, rings, ring segments or arcs,quadrilateral or other polygons, pie shaped pieces, etc., as discussedin the embodiments described below. To further modify the area to beprocessed, a shadow mask, other mask, or masking technique may beincluded in addition to the aperture to define specific features orportions of the regions defined by the system.

The embodiments described herein are directed to various applications,including deposition, which includes physical vapor deposition (PVD),chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), as wellas other applications, such as etch, doping, surface modification orpreparation (e.g., cleaning processes or monolayers depositing), etc. Inaddition, the inventions described herein will work for other flux basedsystems. It should be further appreciated that the embodiments describedbelow are techniques optimized for combinatorial processing of asubstrate. The movement and/or rotation of a relatively small aperture(as compared to the overall area of the substrate) defines a region andalong with the rotation of the substrate enables access to the entiresurface of the substrate. Alternatively, the process head or a clusterof process heads could be rotated in a circular fashion and thesubstrate could be moved in a relative x-y direction or rotated toenable access to the entire surface through the relative aperture andsubstrate movement.

FIG. 1A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a processingchamber configured to combinatorially process a substrate disposedtherein in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Processingchamber 100 includes a bottom chamber portion 102 disposed under topchamber portion 116. Within bottom portion 102 substrate support 106 isconfigured to hold a substrate 108 disposed thereon and can be any knownsubstrate support, including but not limited to a vacuum chuck,electrostatic chuck or other known mechanisms. Substrate support 106 iscapable of rotating around a central axis of the substrate support. Inone embodiment, substrate support 106 rotates approximately 185 degreesto provide full access to the surface of a substrate. In anotherembodiment substrate support 106 rotates 360 degrees. In addition,substrate support 106 may move in a vertical direction or in a planardirection. It should be appreciated that the rotation and movement inthe vertical direction or planar direction may be achieved through knowndrive mechanisms which include magnetic drives, linear drives, wormscrews, lead screws, a differentially pumped rotary feed through drive,etc.

Substrate 108 may be a conventional round 200 millimeter, 300 millimeteror any other larger or smaller substrate/wafer size. In otherembodiments, substrate 108 may be a square, rectangular, or other shapedsubstrate. One skilled in the art will appreciate that substrate 108 maybe a blanket substrate, a coupon (e.g., partial wafer), or even apatterned substrate having predefined regions. In another embodiment,substrate 108 may have regions defined through the processing describedherein. The term region is used herein to refer to a localized area on asubstrate which is, was, or is intended to be used for processing orformation of a selected material. The region can include one regionand/or a series of regular or periodic regions pre-formed on thesubstrate. The region may have any convenient shape, e.g., circular,rectangular, elliptical, wedge-shaped, etc. In the semiconductor field aregion may be, for example, a test structure, single die, multiple die,portion of a die, other defined portion of substrate, or a undefinedarea of a, e.g., blanket substrate which is defined through theprocessing.

Top chamber portion 116 of chamber 100 in FIG. 1A includes process kitshield 110, which defines a confinement region over a radial portion ofsubstrate 108. Process kit shield 110 is in essence a sleeve having abase (optionally integral with the shield) and an optional top withinchamber 100 that may be used to confine a plasma generated therein. Thegenerated plasma will dislodge particles from a target to process (e.g.,be deposited) on an exposed surface of substrate 108 to combinatoriallyprocess regions of the substrate in one embodiment. Process kit shield110 is capable of being moved in and out of chamber 100, i.e., theprocess kit shield is a replaceable insert. Process kit shield 110includes an optional top portion, sidewalls and a base. In oneembodiment, process kit shield 110 is configured in a cylindrical shape,however, the process kit shield may be any suitable shape and is notlimited to a cylindrical shape.

The base of process kit shield 110 includes an aperture 112 throughwhich a surface of substrate 108 exposed for deposition or some othersuitable semiconductor processing operation. Within top portion 116 iscover plate 118 which is moveably disposed over the base of process kitshield 110. Cover plate 118 may slide across a bottom surface of thebase of process kit shield 110 in order to cover or expose aperture 112in one embodiment. In another embodiment, cover plate 118 is controlledthrough an arm extension which moves the cover plate to expose or coveraperture 112 as will be described in more detail below. It should benoted that although a single aperture is illustrated, multiple aperturesmay be included. Each aperture may be associated with a dedicated coverplate or a cover plate can be configured to cover more than one aperturesimultaneously or separately. Alternatively, aperture 112 may be alarger opening and plate 118 may extend with that opening to eithercompletely cover it or place one or more fixed apertures within thatopening for processing the defined regions.

The optional top plate of sleeve 110 of FIG. 1A may function as a datumshield as will be described further below. Process heads 114 (alsoreferred to as deposition guns) are disposed within slots defined withinthe datum shield in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.Where a datum shield is utilized in the chamber, a datum shield slidecover plate 120 may be included. Datum shield slide cover plate 120functions to seal off a deposition gun when the deposition gun may notbe used for the processing. For example, two deposition guns 114 areillustrated in FIG. 1A. Process heads 114 are moveable in a verticaldirection so that one or both of the guns may be lifted from the slotsof the datum shield. While two process heads are illustrated, any numberof process heads may be included, e.g., three or four process heads maybe included. Where more than one process head is included, the pluralityof process heads may be referred to as a cluster of process heads. Inaddition, the cluster of process heads may be rotatable around an axisas discussed with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Slide cover plate 120 canbe transitioned to isolate the lifted process heads from the processingarea defined within process kit shield 110. In this manner, the processheads are isolated from certain processes when desired. It should benoted that while one slide cover plate 120 is illustrated, multipleslide cover plates may be included so that each slot or opening of thedatum shield is associated with a cover plate. Alternatively, slidecover plate 120 may be integrated with the top of the shield unit 110 tocover the opening as the process head is lifted or individual covers canbe used for each target. In addition, certain aspects of the chamberdescribed with respect to FIG. 4 may be integrated into this chamberdesign.

Top section 116 of chamber 100 of FIG. 1A includes sidewalls and a topplate which house process kit shield 110. Arm extensions 114 a, whichare fixed to process heads 114 extend through the region defined withintop portion 116. Arm extensions 114 a may be attached to a suitabledrive, e.g., lead screw, worm gear, etc., configured to vertically moveprocess heads 114 toward a top plate of top portion 116. Arm extensions114 a may be pivotably affixed to process heads 114 to enable theprocess heads to tilt relative to a vertical axis. In one embodiment,process heads 114 tilt toward aperture 112. In another embodiment, armextensions 114 a are attached to a bellows that allows for the verticalmovement and tilting of process heads 114. Where a datum shield isutilized, the opening are configured to accommodate the tilting of theprocess heads. In one embodiment, the process heads are tilted by tendegrees or less relative to the vertical axis. It should be appreciatedthat the tilting of the process head enables tuning so that the gun maybe tilted toward an aperture in the base plate to further enhanceuniformity of a layer of material deposited through the aperture.

As illustrated in FIG. 1A, process kit shield 110 is moveable in avertical direction and is configured to rotate around an axis of theprocess kit shield. It should be appreciated that the axis 111 aroundwhich process kit shield 110 rotates is offset from both the axis aroundwhich substrate support 106 rotates and an axis 109 of a cluster ofprocess heads in one embodiment. In this manner, a plurality of regionson substrate 108 may be exposed for combinatorial processing asdescribed further with reference to FIG. 4. As process kit shield 110rotates the relative position of the process heads 114 and the aperture112 remains the same, thus the processing of the region on substrate 108will be more uniform from site to site and not contain variability dueto process head angle or relative positioning. While process heads 114are described as clustered on the same axis as aperture 112, additionalheads may be offset from the cluster of heads for doping, implantationor deposition of small amounts of a material, e.g., 1-10% withoutlimitation. An alternative embodiment to provide access to regions onthe entire substrate may include linear movement of upper chamber 116 asopposed to movement in an arc as shown in the figures.

FIG. 1B is a simplified schematic diagram of exemplary differentpositions of the process kit shield in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. Process kit shield 110 may move within top section 116 ofthe chamber. As discussed herein, process kit shield 110 may rotateabout an axis to move between positions 110-1 and 110-2. Alternatively,the process kit shield may move linearly between positions 110-1 and110-2. It should be appreciated that top section 116 may be any suitableshape to accommodate this movement, including circular, kidney shaped,oval, rectangular, etc. In addition, the relative size of the processkit shield may be based on the number of heads and other design factors,such as the type of movement, e.g., linear vs. rotational. Thus, theprocess kit shield may be smaller, larger, or the same size as substrate108 depending on the number and configuration of process heads as wellas other design factors,

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating another view of acombinatorial processing chamber in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. Process chamber 100 includes bottom portion 102 disposedunder top portion 116. The substrate support referred to in FIG. 1 ishoused within bottom portion 102. Bottom portion 102 of FIG. 2 includesaccess ports 136 which may be utilized for access to the chamber forpulling a vacuum, or other process monitoring operations. In addition,bottom portion 102 includes slot valve 134 which enables access for asubstrate into and out of bottom chamber 102. In one embodiment, processtool 100 may be part of a cluster tool as described further with regardto FIG. 14. One skilled in the art will appreciate that a robot may beutilized to move substrates into and out of process chamber 100 throughslot valve 134. Process kit shield 110 is disposed within top portion116. In the embodiment described with regard to FIG. 2, top portion 116includes a rotary stage 104 which is utilized to rotate the process kitshield 110, if included, with the process heads. Process heads disposedwithin top portion 116 are attached to corresponding arm extensions 114a which protrude through a top surface of rotary stage 104. Alsoprotruding through a top surface of rotary stage 104 is heat lamp 130which is disposed within top portion 116 of chamber 100 in order tosupply heat for processing within the chamber.

Drive 132 of FIG. 2 may be used to provide the rotational means forrotating a substrate support disposed within bottom portion 102. Inaddition, drive 132 may provide the mechanical means for raising orlowering the substrate support. Within the embodiment described by FIG.2, four process guns are included which rotate with top portion 116 on adifferent axis than substrate support 106 as described elsewhere herein.In addition, a substrate disposed under a base of process kit shield 110and on top of a substrate support may be rotated through rotationalmotion provided by the substrate support. An axis of process kit shield110, an axis of the process heads and an axis of the substrate supportare offset from each other in order to achieve a pattern of regions oran array of regions on the substrate as illustrated in more detail withregard to FIG. 4. The processing defines regions on a substrate in oneembodiment. In another embodiment, the regions are predefined and theprocessing heads provide further processing for the regions. Thesubstrate is processed through aperture 112 located through the base ofprocess kit shield 110 in this embodiment. As described above, processkit shield 110 will confine a plasma used for a physical vapordeposition (PVD) or other flux based processing. The array or cluster ofdeposition guns within top portion 116 enables co-sputtering ofdifferent materials onto a layer of a substrate, as well as a singlematerial being deposited and various other processes. Accordingly,numerous combinations of materials or multiple deposition guns havingthe same material, or any combination thereof may be applied to thedifferent regions so that an array of differently processed regionsresults.

The chamber described with regards to FIGS. 1 and 2 may be incorporatedinto a cluster-tool in which conventional processing tools are included.Thus, the substrate may be conventionally processed (i.e., the wholewafer subject to one process or set of processes to provide uniformprocessing across the wafer) and placed into the combinatorialprocessing tool (or moved within the tool as described with respect toFIG. 14) illustrated herein in order to evaluate different processingtechniques on a single substrate. Furthermore, the embodiments describedherein provide for a “long throw” chamber in which a distance from a topsurface of a substrate being processed and the surface of a target onthe deposition guns is greater than four diameters of the targets. Forexample, a target may have a size of two to three inches which wouldmake the distance from a top surface of the substrate being processedand the target between about 8 and about 12 inches in one embodiment. Inanother embodiment, the surface of a target on the deposition guns isgreater than six diameters of the targets. This distance will enhancethe uniformity of the material being deposited within the region definedby aperture 112 over the substrate. That is, while the substrate mayhave differently processed regions, each region will be substantiallylocally uniform in order to evaluate the variations enabled through thecombinatorial processing. It should be noted that the depositions ratewill decrease with the increase in target to substrate distance. Thisincrease in distance would negatively impact throughput for a productiontool and therefore is not considered for conventional processing tool.However, the resulting uniformity and multitude of data obtained fromprocessing the single substrate combinatorially far outweighs anythroughput impact due to the decrease in the deposition rate. It isnoted, that the chamber does not require long throw to be effective, butsuch an arrangement is a configuration that may be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating various componentsof the process chamber of FIG. 2 in more detail in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. In FIG. 3, the rotary stage includes a topplate through which arm extensions 114 a protrude. Arm extensions 114 aare affixed to process heads 114. For the embodiment where process heads114 are deposition guns, targets 140 attach thereto. One skilled in theart will appreciate that targets 140 may be coupled to the heads 114through magnetism in one embodiment. Deposition guns 114 may becommercially available guns such as those through the KURT J. LESKERCOMPANY or from MEIVAC Inc. While three deposition guns are clusteredwithin the embodiment of FIG. 3, any suitable number of deposition headsmay be included within the process tool. It should be appreciated thatprocess heads 114 are clustered over a radial portion of the substratedefined by process kit shield 110. Considerations such as the size ofprocess heads, confinement area defined by process kit shield 110, andthe substrate size, will impact the number of deposition heads capableof fitting in the system.

Arm 144 protrudes through the top plate of the rotary stage and into theconfinement area defined within process kit shield 110. Arm 144 willextend to a base of process kit shield 110 and radially extend over asurface of the base with section 144 a that provides a cover foraperture 112. Thus, a rotary mechanism which will turn or twist arm 144can be used to cover and uncover aperture 112. In this manner, aperture112 can be sealed so that during a burn in or other processing operationwhere it is beneficial to isolate a substrate disposed on substratesupport 106, the aperture 112 may be closed by rotating arm 144. Otherclosure mechanisms can also be applied, such as the cover platedescribed in FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, rotary stage 104 and process kit shield 110rotate in order to move aperture 112 over different regions of asubstrate disposed on substrate support 106. It is preferable, but notrequired, that the axis of the cluster of process heads is the same asthat of the aperture(s), so that more uniform processing results will beobtained across the combinatorial processed regions and, therefore, theresults can be explained by the different processing as opposed to theangle or location of the process heads relative to the regions. Inaddition, substrate support 106 will rotate around its axis so that anumber of regions may be exposed on a surface of a substrate beingprocessed as illustrated in FIG. 4. Drive mechanism 146 may provide therotational force to rotate substrate support 106. In addition a lineardrive may be coupled to substrate support 106 in order to enablevertical displacement of the substrate support. Thus, through therotational movement of process kit shield 110 and the correspondingaperture 112 in the base of the process kit shield, in combination withthe rotational movement of substrate support 106, any region of asubstrate may be accessed for combinatorial processing. The rotationalmovement of process kit shield 110 provides radial movement of aperture112 across a substrate disposed on substrate support 106. It should benoted that the axis of rotation for process kit shield 110 is offsetfrom the axis of rotation of substrate support 106.

FIG. 4 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a pattern achievedthrough the ability to rotate both the process heads and the substratein accordance with one embodiment of the invention described withreference to FIGS. 1-3. Substrate 108 may be rotated and the array orcluster of process heads, e.g., deposition guns, may be rotated. Asillustrated, the axis of rotation for substrate 108 is offset from theaxis of rotation of the gun or cluster of guns, and both of theaforementioned axes of rotation are offset from an axis of rotation ofthe process kit shield in one embodiment. As the process kit and theprocess heads or guns rotate, radial movement across the substratesurface is provided in order to define a number of regions 180. Itshould be noted that an opening, i.e., the aperture, within the base ofthe process kit shield may be centered or offset from a center of thebase in one embodiment, but is preferably, as mentioned above, axiallyaligned with the process heads and such aligned is maintained during therotation of the process kit (though the system may include additionalprocess heads for doping, implantation or other processing that are notaxially aligned or are positioned at an angle. In addition, the aperturemay be of any shape as mentioned elsewhere. For example, if the aperture112 is rectangular then the aperture may rotate in a fixed position inthe base plate so that the rectangle regions are created in an orderedarray (i.e., nearly parallel region borders as opposed to various anglesbetween the region borders) when the process heads 114 are rotated.Rotation of substrate 108 will further enable access to substantiallythe entire substrate and allow processing or deposition over multipleregions of the substrate. The regions may overlap or the regions can beisolated. Of course, some combination of overlapping and isolatedregions is possible.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention.Combinatorial processing chamber 400 includes upper chamber 416 andlower chamber 402. Lower chamber 402 includes substrate support 406,which may rotate as describe above, for supporting substrate 408. Upperchamber 416 includes an outer wall, a base plate having an opening(described in more detail below), a moveable shield 410, processing head414 and an optional datum shield. Opening 412, linear mask 418 a andslideable plate 418 b are described in more detail below. FIG. 5illustrates an alternative embodiment of cover plate 420 and kit shield410. In this embodiment, kit shield 410 is moveable vertically. When inthe up position, as shown, kit shield 410 blocks the valve providingaccess for cover plate 420. If a change of heads is required, kit shield410 can be moved down and cover plate 420 moved into the chamber toprovide a break between the lower portion of upper chamber 416 and theupper portion containing process head 414. In this manner process headsmay be changed, serviced, or otherwise modified for further processingwithout losing the vacuum state in the lower portion of chamber 416 orexposing it to atmosphere. This chamber implementation may be used withthe chamber of FIG. 1 and various components may be used interchangeablyas would be understood by one of skill in the art based upon thedetailed description of the invention contained herein.

FIG. 6 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an alternativeprocessing chamber in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.Bottom portion 402 of process chamber 400 includes access port 436 andslot valve 434. Slot valve 434 provides access for a substrate into andout of process chamber 400. Vacuum pump 456 is attached to an accessport in order to provide the ultra high vacuum conditions necessary forcertain processing operations, such as deposition operations, occurringwithin chamber portion 402. Process kit sleeve 410 is disposed withinprocessing chamber 400 and top portion 406 is slightly lifted in orderto provide a view of the process kit shield. Rods 452 and 454 extendfrom chamber portion 402 and provide movement to a linear mask andcorresponding flag which will either expose an aperture or close anaperture defined through a base of process kit shield 410. Furtherdetails on the mechanism for rods 452 and 454 are provided withreference to FIGS. 7A through 9.

Top chamber portion 406 includes an extension 450 which houses aplurality of targets 453. It should be appreciated that the plurality oftargets 453 may be moved into process chamber 400 and placed ontocorresponding deposition heads. One skilled in the art will appreciatethat a robot may remove a target from a deposition gun and place thetarget within storage extension 450. After storing the removed targetthe robot may pick a different target from stored targets 453 and placethat target onto the corresponding process head. In one embodiment, thetargets magnetically attach to the process head. In this embodiment, therobot may grip the target and the process head retracts so that thetarget separates from the process head for removal. It should beappreciated that numerous types of materials may be deposited on asingle substrate within the processing chamber in a combinatorialfashion through the embodiments described herein. Multiple heads may beused to co-sputter different materials onto different regions of asubstrate and/or processing conditions during co-sputtering of thedifferent materials. Accordingly, a single substrate can yield data fornumerous combinations of materials, process conditions, processsequences, and unit processes.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate further details of the linear mask embodimentmentioned with regard to FIG. 6 in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. In FIG. 7A, substrate support 406 has substrate 408 disposedtherein. Process shield 410 confines a processing region over a radialportion of substrate 408. Linear mask 418 a provides support forslideable cover 418 b. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 7B, linearmask 418 a has an aperture 412 defined therethrough. Aperture 412 isexposed or covered through movement of cover plate 418 b. Linear mask418 a may have a number of apertures 412 defined therethrough and is notlimited to a single aperture. In addition, the shape of aperture 412 isany suitable shape and is not limited to a circular shape, but may be aquadrilateral oval, polygon, arc, wedge or other shape. Linear mask 418a is affixed to rod 454 in order to be moved linearly across a radialportion of the surface of substrate 408. Cover plate 418 b is attachedto rod 452 so that cover plate 418 b may be independently moved toexpose or isolate aperture 412 as necessary. It should be appreciatedthat process kit shield 410 in this embodiment has a slot defined acrossa diameter of the base so that aperture 412 may be moved anywhere alongthe slot through the movement of linear mask 418 a to expose a region ofsubstrate 408.

FIGS. 8A and 8B further illustrate the utilization of the linear maskand cover plate to expose and isolate an aperture for processing asubstrate in a combinatorial fashion in accordance with one embodimentof the invention. Substrate support 406 supports substrate 408 overwhich process kit shield 410 isolates or confines a radial portion ofthe substrate for processing. It is noted that the kit shield may coverthe entire substrate or only a portion thereof, as described above.Process kit shield 410 optionally includes a top plate 460 which mayfunction as a datum shield having apertures for process heads 414.Linear mask 418 a extends across a diameter of the base of process kitshield 410. The base of process kit shield 410 includes a slot definedacross the base where the slot is preferably wider that aperture 412 sothat aperture 412 of linear mask 418 a defines the region to beprocessed. Linear mask 418 a is moveable across the base plate to alignwith or define the region to be processed on the substrate. Cover plate418 b will slideably move over a surface of linear mask 418 a in orderto expose or cover aperture 412. In FIG. 8A, aperture 412 is exposed ascover plate 418 b is retracted. In FIG. 8B, when cover plate 418 b ismoved forward aperture 412 is covered. As mentioned above, the isolationof the substrate by closing off aperture 412 will enable processing,chamber or head conditioning, pre-process steps, etc. within process kitshield 410 to occur without impacting substrate 408.

FIG. 9 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating the linear maskand corresponding connection to movement rods in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. Substrate support 406 has a substrate 408disposed thereon. Linear mask 418 a is disposed over a portion ofsubstrate 408 and along a base of a process kit shield. Cover plate 418b slideably moves over a surface of linear mask 418 a so that anaperture within the linear mask can be covered or uncovered by movementof cover plate 418 b. Rod 452 is configured to control movement of coverplate 418 b. In one embodiment, rod 452 may simply be a push rodattached to cover plate 418 b in order to slideably push the cover plateacross the grooved area within linear mask 418 a. Rod 454 will likewisecontrol movement of linear mask 418 a over a surface of substrate 408 sothat an aperture or apertures can be located over different regions ofsubstrate 408 within the confined processing area defined by process kitshield 410. This operation can also be implemented with one mask orcover plate that enables the substrate to be covered in one position andallows placement of one or more apertures within the base plate ofshield 410 in other positions. While this set up requires additionallinear movement, it eliminates having multiple moving parts. In this orothers systems described, the mask or cover plate could also be embeddedwithin the base rather than riding on top as illustrated.

FIG. 10A is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a crosssectional view of process kit shield 410 with the linear mask inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. Process kit shield 410includes a slot 412 a extending across a base of process kit shield 410.In this embodiment, slot 412 a extends across a diameter of the base ofthe process kit shield. Disposed over the slot is linear mask 418 ahaving a slideable cover plate 418 b. Linear mask 418 a includes anaperture 412 which can be adjusted anywhere along slot 412 a by movingthe mask linearly across the opening of the base of shield 410. Aperture412 may be any suitable shape. In one embodiment, cover plate 418 b doesnot contact any surface of linear mask 418 a. As illustrated in FIG.10A, the inner surfaces defining aperture 412 may be chamfered orbeveled in one embodiment.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the gaps between thecorresponding pieces are small enough so as to not light a plasma inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. For example, gapsbetween slide cover plate 418 b and linear mask 418 a may beapproximately 1/50 of an inch. Similarly, a gap between a bottom surfaceof linear mask 418 a and a top surface of the base of process kit shield410 is approximately 1/50 of an inch. In one embodiment, a thickness ofthe base of process kit shield 410 is approximately 1/25 of an inch. Inaddition, process kit shield may be placed at a distance ofapproximately 1/50 of an inch above a surface of a substrate. Thus, thetotal distance from the bottom surface of linear mask 418 a and a topsurface of a substrate disposed under the base of the process kit shield410 is about 2/25 of an inch. As mentioned above, the material ofconstruction for process kit shield 410, linear mask 418 a, and coverplate 418 b may be ceramic or any suitable material compatible with theprocess materials and conditions may be utilized.

FIG. 10B is an alternative structural configuration for the base of theprocess kit shield of FIG. 10A. The base of process kit shield 410defines an opening or slot 412 a. Disposed over slot 412 a is linearmask 418 a. The base of process kit shield 410 includes a shoulderdefined along a length of slot 412 a, where the shoulder providessupport for linear mask 418 a. Linear mask 418 a includes aperture 412,which provides access to a surface of a substrate disposed under thebase of process kit shield 410 when aligned over slot 412 a. It shouldbe appreciated that slot 412 a is a fixed opening while aperture 412 isfixed within linear mask 418 a, but moveable as dictated by the movementof linear mask 418 a. As mentioned above, linear mask 418 a may havemultiple apertures and cover plate 418 b may block access to one or moreof the apertures depending on the processing circumstances. Linear mask418 a also includes a shoulder configured to support cover plate 418 b.In one embodiment, linear mask 418 a and cover plate 418 b do notcontact the shoulder surfaces over which they are disposed. It should beappreciated that the embodiment of FIG. 10B allow for a compact profileand the gaps between the corresponding pieces are small enough so as tonot light a plasma, as described above. In addition, since linear mask418 a and cover plate 418 b are substantially flush with the base plate,they will not perturb the plasma near the aperture which may affect theprocessing of the region. The embodiment of FIG. 10B may further bedescribed as the base of process kit shield 410 having a recess definedover slot 412 a that accommodates linear mask 418 a. Linear mask 418 asimilarly includes a recess to accommodate cover plate 418 b. In FIG.10A linear mask 418 a is disposed over a portion of the top surface ofthe base of process kit shield 410, while cover plate 418 b is disposedwithin a recess of the top surface of linear mask 418 a. In theembodiments where linear mask 418 a and/or cover plate 418 b aredisposed in a recess, it should be appreciated that the sidewalls of therecess dictate the direction of movement of the corresponding linearmask or cover plate.

FIG. 10C is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a top view of aprocessing chamber configured to combinatorially process a substratedisposed therein in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Topportion 416, which contains the process kit shield is disposed over aportion of substrate support 106. Linear mask 418 a is disposed within aslot of a base plate of the process kit shield. In the embodiment ofFIG. 10C, the slot dictates the linear movement of linear mask 418 a.That is, the configuration of the slot across the radius of substratesupport 106 defines the linear movement of linear mask 418 a over theradius. Thus, the entire surface of a substrate disposed on substratesupport 106 is accessible due to the rotation of the substrate supportand the linear movement of linear mask 418 a. The aperture shouldpreferably move across at least the radius of the substrate to enablecomplete access, but need not be limited to this range. It should benoted that the diameter of top portion 416 is configured to accommodatea length of the slot in the linear mask in one embodiment. That is, thelength of the slot will determine the minimum diameter of the topportion.

FIG. 10D is a simplified schematic of a cross sectional view of the baseplate assembly for combinatorial processing in accordance with anotherembodiment of the invention. It should be appreciated that in FIG. 10D,base 411 of the process kit shield has a slot defined therethrough (notshown). Below base 411 is cover plate 418 b and linear mask 418 a (whichmay also be referred to as a moving aperture plate), both of which movelinearly independent of each other. As described above with reference toFIG. 10B, linear mask 418 a and cover plate 418 b may be disposed withinrecesses defined by shoulders as opposed to the stacked structure ofFIG. 10D. In addition, in any of the above FIG. 10A, B or C, a shadowmask may be incorporated either above or below the base 411, the linearmask 418 a, and the cover plate 418 b to further limit the area withinthe processing region that is subject to the process. For example,multiple electrodes for capacitance or memory element testing may beincorporated into a single region using a shadow mask. If the mask iswithin the upper chamber 416, then it is preferably as thin as possibleand substantially wider than the linear mask to avoid perturbing theplasma, but need not be.

FIG. 11 is a simplified schematic diagram showing a cross-sectional viewof a datum shield in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.Exemplary datum shield 160 provides for the process heads 114 ordeposition guns to be positioned at different heights relative to asurface of a substrate below process kit shield 110. As mentioned above,use of a datum shield is optional and not necessary for the embodimentsdescribed herein. Where a datum shield is included, the datum shield maybe planar which provides for similar heights for all deposition guns 114as illustrated with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B. Alternatively, datumshield 160 may enable different heights for each of the deposition gunsas illustrated in FIG. 11. Datum shield 160 is disposed over process kitshield 110. Process heads 114 attach to arms 114 a and are disposedwithin slots configured to accommodate the process heads within datumshield 160. Datum shield 160 may have a coolant supplied through conduit170 disposed within the datum shield. Of course, the cooling feature isoptional.

Process gas may be supplied from a process gas reservoirs 172 and 174 tocorresponding process heads 114. In one embodiment, the process gas maybe supplied through arm extensions 114 a to process head 114. Nozzle 178will then be utilized to supply process gas proximate to target 152affixed to the process head. In an alternative embodiment, process gasis supplied through datum shield 160 into nozzle 176. As mentionedabove, process heads 114 may move into and out of the openings definedwithin datum shield 160. In addition, slide cover plates may isolate theopening within the datum shield when the deposition head is removed fromthe opening as referenced in FIG. 1. In this manner, the process headsmay be isolated from processing within process kit shield 110 asdesired. Alternatively, other mechanisms such as hole fill or plugs maybe implemented to provide this isolation. The process heads may betilted from a vertical axis as described above. In one embodiment, someof the process heads may be titled while other within a cluster ofprocess heads are not tilted but may be located at different heightsfrom the surface of a substrate being processed. In one embodiment,datum shield 160 may move vertically to increase or decrease a distancefrom a surface of a substrate.

FIG. 12 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating a patterndisposed over a substrate in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. In FIG. 12, an array of regions 180 are processed onsubstrate 108. In order to provide access to those regions forprocessing, between processing steps and per the experimental designaperture 112 is moved across a surface of substrate 108 within the slotin the base plate and the substrate is rotated as necessary so thatmultiple regions can be processed combinatorially on one substrate.

FIG. 13 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an aperturehaving an alternative configuration in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. Substrate 108 is disposed under process kit shield 110.Process kit shield 110 confines a radial portion of substrate 108 andincludes a pie-shaped or triangular shaped aperture 112 defined within abase of the process kit shield. As substrate 108 rotates differentregions of substrate 108 may be processed as exposed under aperture 112.In this embodiment, the substrate is rotated and stopped at a certainposition, the processing takes place and then the substrate will then berotated to a next position to process or deposit over a next region ofthe substrate. Process kit shield 110 may remain stationary in thisembodiment. Thus, through the embodiments described herein, isolated anddiscrete regions of a substrate may be processed differently in acombinatorial fashion in order to evaluate unit processes, processsequence and materials in a combinatorial fashion.

FIG. 14 a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an integrated highproductivity combinatorial (HPC) system in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. HPC system includes a frame 900 supportinga plurality of processing modules. It should be appreciated that frame900 may be a unitary frame in accordance with one embodiment. In oneembodiment, the environment within frame 900 is controlled. Loadlock/factory interface 902 provides access into the plurality of modulesof the HPC system. Robot 914 provides for the movement of substrates(and masks) between the modules and for the movement into and out of theload lock 902. Modules 904-912 may be any set of modules and preferablyinclude one or more combinatorial modules. For example, module 904 maybe an orientation/degassing module, module 906 may be a clean module,either plasma or non-plasma based, module 908 and 910 may becombinatorial modules in according with this invention or of otherdesign, and module 912 may provide convention clean or out-gassing asnecessary for the experiment design.

Any type of chamber or combination of chambers may be implemented andthe description herein is merely illustrative of one possiblecombination and not meant to limit the potential chamber or processesthat can be supported to combine combinatorial processing orcombinatorial plus conventional processing of a substrate/wafer. In oneembodiment, a centralized controller, i.e., computing device 911, maycontrol the processes of the HPC system. Further details of one possibleHPC system are described in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 11/672,478 and11/672,473. With HPC system, a plurality of methods may be employed todeposit material upon a substrate employing combinatorial processes.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart diagram illustrating method operations forcombinatorially processing a substrate in accordance with one embodimentof the invention. The method initiates with operation 200 where asubstrate is received. As described above, the substrate may be receivedinto a process tool having the ability to combinatorially process thesubstrate as described above. The method then advances to operation 202where a portion of the substrate is exposed for processing through abase plate containing a fixed aperture. The process kit shield having abase with a fixed aperture described in FIGS. 1-3 or a slot withmoveable linear mask and cover plate described in FIG. 4-9 are exemplarytools capable of exposing the portion of the substrate of operation 202.In each of these embodiments of the invention, a cover plate may bemoved or adjusted to expose the aperture through the base plate and/orlinear mask. The method then proceeds to operation 204 where the regionof the substrate is processed. The process may include generating aplasma within the process kit shield over a radial portion of thesubstrate as described above, or other known methods to enabledeposition, etching, cleaning, etc. or any other suitable processingoperation. A region may have multiple process steps performedsequentially prior to moving to the next step or may only implement oneprocess step. After process operation 204, it is determined whether tocontinue processing in decision operation 205. If processing does notcontinue, the method terminates. If processing continues, it isdetermined whether to move the aperture or the substrate. If theaperture is to be moved, either the process kit will be rotated or thelinear mask and cover plate adjusted accordingly in operation 206. Ifthe substrate is to be moved, the substrate support is rotated inoperation 208. Once the aperture, for example, is moved, the method maydetermine whether the substrate also needs to be rotated or theseoperations may occur in parallel. Once the aperture and/or substratehave been moved the process returns to operation 202 and repeats asdescribed above. Thus, the multiple regions on the substrate areprocessed in a combinatorial manner which includes different materials,different process conditions, different unit processes, or differentprocess sequences being utilized for the multiple regions until theexperiment is complete or there is not room on the substrate to createadditional regions.

In summary, the embodiment described above may enable combinatorialprocesses to be applied to a substrate in a deposition system in oneembodiment. A single process head or a cluster of process heads disposedwithin a chamber and opposing a substrate surface has access to thesubstrate surface through an opening in a base plate between the processhead and the substrate surface. An axis of the process heads issubstantially orthogonal to a planar surface of a substrate beingprocessed or a planar surface of a substrate support upon which thesubstrate sits. It should be appreciated that where the substrate is notcircular, e.g., a quadrilateral or other shape, the radial portion maybe defined as a width or length of the substrate. The process heads ofthe embodiments defined herein are clustered over the radial portion,which in essence focuses on half of the substrate, to further improvethe uniformity of a deposited layer, but need not be and may be covermore or less of the substrate per design choices.

The deposition embodiments may deposit multiple materials fromcorresponding targets, a single material from a single target, or anycombinations thereof to achieve the combinatorial array of regions on asingle substrate. For example, one application may include two titaniumtargets on respective process heads and a third process head having anickel target. The two titanium targets would enable double thedeposition rate with respect to a single titanium head. Varyingcombinations of titanium and nickel may be deposited in the differentregions of the substrate and addition processing, such as reactivesputtering with oxygen, rapid thermal operations, doping or other posttreatments may be conducted on the film. In another embodiment, anothertarget, e.g., aluminum, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten or other knownmaterials may be included on a fourth head and can be retracted duringthe titanium and nickel deposition so as to not be contaminated. Thehead can be brought into position and a layer can be deposited or thealuminum may be deposited in combination with the titanium and/ornickel. Accordingly, numerous combinations and permutations are enabledthrough the processing system described herein. As noted above, thesystem is capable of other processes in addition to depositing films andthis is but one example or possible uses.

In addition, the combinatorial processing may be combined withconventional processing techniques to provide further data for materialcombinations, process sequence combinations, unit process combinations,and processing condition combinations on a single substrate. Theembodiments described above enable control over a location of anaperture over the substrate, the size of the aperture, the shape of theaperture and the composition of the material deposited on the regions ofthe substrate. In addition, the embodiments described above allow foruniformity within the region, where the uniformity may be expressed as1% of 1 sigma of non-uniformity.

Any of the operations described herein that form part of the inventionare useful machine operations. The invention also relates to a device oran apparatus for performing these operations. The apparatus can bespecially constructed for the required purpose, or the apparatus can bea general-purpose machine selectively activated or configured by acomputer program stored in the computer. In particular, variousgeneral-purpose machines can be used with computer programs written inaccordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient toconstruct a more specialized apparatus to perform the requiredoperations.

The method aspects of the invention can also be embodied as computerreadable code stored on a computer readable medium to be executed as arecipe for the process tool described herein. The computer readablemedium is any data storage device that can store data, which can bethereafter be read by a computer system. The computer readable mediumalso includes an electromagnetic carrier wave or other signals in whichthe computer code is embodied. Examples of the computer readable mediuminclude hard drives, network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory,random-access memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetic tapes and otheroptical and non-optical data storage devices. The computer readablemedium can also be distributed over a network-coupled computer system sothat the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributedfashion.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certainchanges and modifications can be practiced within the scope of theappended claims. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is notto be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified withinthe scope and equivalents of the appended claims. In the claims,elements and/or steps do not imply any particular order of operation,unless explicitly stated in the claims.

1. A method for combinatorial deposition on a substrate, comprising:exposing a region on the substrate through a fixed opening in a baseplate; identifying an isolated region on the substrate through a fixedaperture in a linear mask, wherein the linear mask is slidably disposedwithin a recess of the base plate; performing a process on the isolatedregion of the substrate defined by the aperture; rotating the substrate;and repeating the steps of exposing, identifying, performing a process,and rotating so that multiple isolated regions on the substrate areprocessed in a combinatorial manner.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: generating a plasma confined to an area defined over anisolated region on the substrate, the area defined by walls extendingfrom the base plate.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein processing in acombinatorial manner comprises one of varying materials, varying processconditions, or varying process sequences.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the performing a process deposits a layer of material on theisolated region on the substrate from multiple deposition headscontemporaneously.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing aprocess modifies isolated region on the substrate without depositing alayer.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the performing a processcomprises one of reactive ion etching or implantation.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: depositing a layer using multiple differenttargets, wherein each of the multiple different targets have a surfacearea that is smaller than a surface area of the substrate and largerthan an area of the isolated region on the substrate.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising: adjusting the fixed aperture of the linearmask disposed over the fixed opening of the base plate to expose theisolated region on the substrate to the processing.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising: isolating one of the multiple differenttargets from the substrate prior to changing the one of the multipledifferent targets with another one of the multiple different targets.10. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to repeating the exposing,identifying, processing, and rotating the method comprises, moving thelinear mask to expose a different isolated region on the substrate. 11.The method of claim 1, further comprising: moving a cover plate toexpose the fixed aperture of the linear mask.